8: Chapter 8: No evening self-study, no morning exercises, no class officer duties.

Jiang You looked down at his feet, then at the floor tiles that had crumbled into powder.

"The quality of this place is just too poor. Looks like I need to find the landlord and terminate the lease."

He shook his head, just about to reach for the water glass on the nightstand to take a drink.

As his hand reached out, it touched something cold and hard.

Jiang You turned his head to look, and he was completely stunned.

There, at the head of his bed, was a pile of messy, miscellaneous items.

The most conspicuous one was a half-person-long zixiao thunder bamboo; it looked like some kind of craft, but for some reason, it was still covered in mud.

Beside it was a crumpled mineral water bottle filled with a dark, purplish-black liquid that bubbled every now and then.

Besides that, there was a handful of unknown wild grass and a few pieces of pitch-black tree bark.

"What on earth is this?"

Jiang You picked up the zixiao thunder bamboo and swung it twice.

It was heavy.

And it felt a bit tingly in his hand.

"Who threw trash into my room in the middle of the night?"

Jiang You looked disgusted. "This bamboo... looks like that low-quality dyed bamboo you see on the side of the road, and they didn't even trim the roots properly. And this water..."

He picked up the priceless bottle of zixiao thunder liquid, enough to make a Grandmaster break their head over it, and brought it close to smell it.

A faint smell of ozone wafted over.

"Ugh!"

Jiang You retched. "What is this smell? Toilet cleaner? Or did someone play a prank and pour gentian violet inside?"

Just then, "Knock, knock, knock!" The door was knocked on urgently.

Jiang You felt a jolt in his heart. Could it be that pervert who was hanging on the utility pole yesterday? Or was it the landlord coming to check the room and discovering the window and floor were broken?

He hurriedly kicked that pile of "trash" under the bed.

"Coming, coming! Stop knocking!"

Jiang You opened the door. Standing outside was neither the landlord nor the pervert. It was a young man wearing a Magic City Martial Arts University uniform with a golden school badge pinned to his chest.

Behind him were two reporters carrying cameras.

The young man saw Jiang You in his pajamas, flashed a standard professional smile, and took out a photo to compare it. "May I ask if you are Student Jiang You?"

Jiang You gripped the doorframe vigilantly. "I am. Are you here to sell insurance or credit cards? I have no money."

The young man was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Student Jiang is so humorous. Let me introduce myself. I am Teacher Gu Yan, a special envoy from the admissions office of Magic City Martial Arts University."

"We saw your masterpiece under the streetlamp yesterday, and we have also investigated your blood-qi file."

Teacher Gu Yan looked at Jiang You with burning eyes, as if looking at an uncut jade. "Although your file only shows 0.8, we believe that is an instrument malfunction. To be able to hang a second-tier martial artist on a streetlamp with no ability to fight back, we need talent like you!"

"Therefore—" Teacher Gu Yan took out a gold-stamped admission letter and handed it over with both hands. "Representing Magic City No.1 Martial Arts University, I formally extend a special recruitment invitation to you!"

Meanwhile, Jiang You's peripheral vision caught sight of under the bed. The zixiao thunder bamboo he had kicked in, due to uneven force, suddenly went "crackle," emitting a finger-thick purple lightning bolt that burned a hole straight through the bedsheet.

A burnt smell drifted out. Teacher Gu Yan twitched his nose. "What is that smell?"

Jiang You's heart skipped a beat, but he blocked the doorway without changing his expression. "Oh, it's nothing. I was roasting sweet potatoes in my room, maybe I burned them."

The air at the doorway froze for two seconds. Although Teacher Gu Yan was young, as a special envoy for Magic City Martial Arts University, he was quite experienced.

He sniffed, and within that burnt smell, it was clearly mixed with an extremely volatile ozone scent, just like a substation exploding on a stormy day.

"Roasting sweet potatoes?" Teacher Gu Yan suspiciously poked his head into the room. "Student Jiang, this sweet potato of yours... is the voltage a bit high?"

Jiang You blocked the doorway stiffly, wearing a business-like fake smile. "That... the microwave is leaking electricity, it's a normal phenomenon. Besides, it's early in the morning, what do you want with me anyway? If there's nothing else, I'm going back to sleep; a second sleep is very important."

As he spoke, he made a move to close the door. Magic City Martial Arts University? Just hearing it sounded exhausting. He'd heard that students there got up at four in the morning every day to fight for training rooms; what was the difference between going there to study and going to prison? He wouldn't go, not even if he were beaten to death.

However, just as Jiang You's hand was about to touch the doorknob.

[Internal Chat Group] [liver (Data Analyst)]: "Wait! Don't close the door! I just scanned the QR code link on that admission letter!" "Magic City Martial Arts University: Possesses the most top-tier Level 9 Spirit Gathering Array on the entire Blue Star! The spiritual energy concentration in the air is fifty times higher than here!" "Taking one breath there is worth a whole day of breathing here! That's heaven!"

[Internal Chat Group] [Kidney (Instantly overheated)]: "Fifty times?! Is that heaven? That's practically a buffet! I want to go! I want to go there to restock! I heard Magic City is full of rich second-generation kids, all of them as fat and oily as that streetlamp guy last night!"

[Internal Chat Group] [Brain]: "Calculating profit-to-cost ratio. Staying here: Sleep on a hard board bed, eat instant noodles, spiritual energy is thin. Going to Magic City: Sleep in a high-end dormitory, eat at a special cafeteria, become stronger just by lying down." "Conclusion: That admissions officer isn't lying. Accept the invitation." "Right hand, intercept the door-closing command. Take that piece of paper."

In reality, Jiang You's hand was originally retracting, preparing to slam the door shut with a "bang." But his wrist suddenly twitched weirdly, as if he had a Parkinson's attack, and the original motion of pushing the door turned into grabbing the admission letter out of Teacher Gu Yan's hand.

The speed was so fast that it even caused a sharp crack in the air. Teacher Gu Yan was startled by this sudden enthusiasm; before he could let go, he felt a huge force come through, almost pulling him over.

"Student... Student Jiang? What is this?"

Jiang You looked at his uncontrollable right hand, cold sweat dripping down. He tried desperately to let go, but his hand was like it had been coated in superglue, refusing to let go no matter what.

"That... if I said this was static electricity adsorption, would you believe me?" Jiang You said with a look of despair.

Just as the two were tugging back and forth. Under the bed in the room. That S-rank zixiao thunder bamboo, having been kicked roughly by Jiang You just now and being smothered by the bedsheet without ventilation, finally threw a tantrum.

Boom! A muffled sound came. A purple electric arc instantly pierced through the bed board, along with the mattress and quilt on top, instantly turning into a huge fireball.

The entire rental apartment instantly turned into a disco scene, with purple light flashing and electric snakes dancing wildly. A terrifying wave of air directly blew Jiang You and Teacher Gu Yan out into the hallway.

"Holy crap!" Jiang You sat on the ground, watching the rolling purple smoke coming out of his window, along with the crackling sound of electricity, completely dumbfounded.

"My bed! My new phone is still under the pillow!"

Teacher Gu Yan was also stunned. He crawled up, covered in dust, and looked at the eerie purple flames, his pupils shaking. "Student Jiang, you call this roasting sweet potatoes? Are you conducting nuclear experiments in your room?"

Jiang You panicked. It's over, how do I explain this now? Jiang You immediately put on a heartbroken expression, pointed at the pile of burning belongings in the room, and shouted: "It's the old wiring! I've told the landlord eight hundred times that there's a problem with the lines! Look, it exploded! My home is gone!"

"I'm homeless now!"

Teacher Gu Yan looked at the boy who had "lost his home" before him. Although he felt that the purple flames were very wrong, seeing Jiang You's miserable state, he couldn't bring himself to ask further.

Most importantly, this was a genius who could hang a second-tier martial artist on a streetlamp; it was normal for him to have some eccentricities.

Teacher Gu Yan patted the dust off his body, adjusted his hairstyle, and struck while the iron was hot. "Student Jiang, my condolences."

"However, since you have nowhere to live now... our Magic City Martial Arts University provides five-star standard single apartments."

"24-hour constant temperature, Simmons soft beds, independent bathrooms, and smart butler services. Most importantly..."

Teacher Gu Yan paused and threw out his trump card. "The cafeteria is open 24/7, not only for free, but it's all medicinal meals made from high-energy monster meat. You can sleep in as late as you want; as long as you pass your final exams, nobody will bother you on a daily basis."

Jiang You's ears perked up. Especially when he heard "Simmons soft bed" and "nobody will bother you," his eyes changed.

[Internal Chat Group] [stomach]: "Medicinal meals! Did you hear that! Monster meat, all you can eat! Go, go, go! Let's go right now!"

[Internal Chat Group] [Legs]: "Simmons... sounds much more comfortable than this lousy board bed. Support moving."

[Internal Chat Group] [Brain]: "Unanimous approval. Sign the contract."

Jiang You sighed. He looked at the rental apartment that had been burned into a spider cave, then looked at the admission letter in his hand that he couldn't shake off no matter what.

"Fine." Jiang You nodded reluctantly. "Since you are so sincere, I'll go take a look. But I'll say this upfront: I won't participate in morning exercises, I won't attend evening self-study, and I won't be a class committee member."